Fayetteville, Ark. – A federal judge on Monday struck down key parts of an Arkansas law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks found elements of the law unconstitutional.
“I respect the court’s decision and will appeal,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The law would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be moved to areas not accessible to children. The measure was signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2023, but an earlier ruling had has temporarily blocked the effectt while it was being contested in court.
“The law replaces librarians and booksellers as agents of censorship; when motivated by fear of prison, they are likely to stock only books suitable for young children and to secrete or discard the rest,” Brooks wrote in his sentence
A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could cause libraries and booksellers to stop carrying titles that could be challenged.
“This was an attempt to ‘outthink the police,’ and this victory over totalitarianism is a testament to the courage of librarians, booksellers and readers who refused to bow to intimidation,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of the ‘ACLU of Arkansas.
But supporters of the law, known as Act 372, say they will continue to fight for its implementation.
“Act 372 is just common sense: Schools and libraries should not put obscene material in front of our children,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement to KATV-TV. “I will work with Attorney General Griffin to appeal this ruling and uphold Arkansas law.”
The ruling comes as lawmakers in some conservative states are pushing for measures that would make it easier to ban or restrict access to books.
Several states, including Iowa, Indiana, and Texas, have enacted laws that restrict access to certain materials or make it easier to challenge them.